Plastic ventilator



March 6,1962 G. MOSTOLLER 3,023,864

PLASTIC VENTILATOR Filed Oct. 5, 1957 INVENTOR.

George Mai/0% United States Patent 3,023,864 PLASTIC VENTILATOR George Mostoller, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Elwin G. Smith & Company, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa. Filed Oct. 3, 1957, Ser. No. 687,911 1 Claim. (Cl. 189--69) This invention relates to a window or ventilator construction and, more particularly, to a window or ventilator frame construction for mounting glass-fibre reinforced panes, instead of glass, as the light transmitting material.

An outstanding disadvantage of glass windows or ventilators is that glass is always subject to breakage, either during installation or in use. When large glass ventilators are opened, strong winds will twist the relatively flexible ventilator frame and result in breakage of the glass. For this reason, ventilators are made much smaller than the window area, thereby sacrificing ventilation.

In conventional window sashes, the glass is supported in glazing rabbets which are a part of the muntins or sash frames. A disadvantage is that the size of the glass is limited to the size of the opening formed by the muntin and the sash frame and oftentimes considerable time is consumed and breakage often occurs in cutting the glass to the proper size so as to fit snugly. Also considerable time is consumed in applying putty or other mastic compound to seal out water and air. Moreover, in the case of multi-pane windows, even more time is consumed in fitting and waterproofing the many small panes. And since the steel frames for the many small panes are on the outside, water penetrates and corrodes them before other parts of the ventilator or window.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel window or ventilator construction which is devoid of the above named disadvantages and which employs glassfibre reinforced or plastic panes as the light transmitting material, therefore which will not break.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a metal frame construction for windows or ventilators which permits the use of larger panes and larger ventilation areas without danger of breakage of the panes, therefore permitting more ventilation than provided by conventional windows.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fibreglass reinforced window or ventilator construction that is relatively inexpensive and which may be completely assembled at the factory, rather than at the building site, and which is easily and quickly assembled in a waterproof manner without the necessity of putty or the like, also in which the muntins are on the inside instead of the outside of the pane and in which the pane is practically the size of the window frame, therefore will protect the muntins as well as most of the frame against corrosive effects of the weather.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front, elevational view of a ventilator or window embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 2, of the top frame only, but shown somewhat enlarged.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line V-V of FIG. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, numerals 1 and 2 denote top and bottom, glass-fibre reinforced or plastic panes which are mounted on pivotal frames 3 and 4, respectively, of aluminum, steel or other suitable material. The pane material may be either transparent or translucent plastic material which, therefore, does not break like glass. A suitable resinous, translucent or transparent plastic material is one sold under the trademark Reso-Lite by the Elwin G. Smith Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Frames 3 and 4 may be pivotally mounted on horizontal pivots 5 and 6, respectively, and thus provide a louvre type ventilator. If desired, the frames may be of the vertically slidable type.

An important feature of the invention resides in the manner the plastic panes are mounted on the movable frames. Instead of mounting the panes 1 and 2 on the inside, they are mounted on the outside of the pivotal frames 3 and 4. Thus the panes are outside of the muntins 7 and 8, therefore will protect them from corrosive effects of outside weather. Furthermore the panes 1 and 2 are made larger than the interior openings of the movable frames 3 and 4, in fact, almost as large as the outer perimeters of frames 3 and 4, thus protecting most of the outer surfaces of such frames from the effects of the weather. The stationary and movable frames have vertically projecting flanges 9b and 30 respectively, which cooperate to form a seal when the window is closed.

The plastic panes 1 and 2 are secured to movable frames 3 and 4 by driving self-tapping metal screws or rivets 13 through metal molding strips 11 and 12 and through the perimetrical or marginal portions of panes 3 and 4 as well as through the frames 3 and 4. Because of the tight fit and pressure obtained by such screws between the panes and movable frames, no putty or other waterproofing compound is necessary.

Leakage of rainwater into the window is further prevented by inclining an integral flange portion 9a of the top stationary frame so as to act as a Watershed to prevent dripping of rain on the windows.

In some installations, strips 11 and 12 may be omitted and a sealing material or gasket may be interposed between the perimeters of the pane and movable frame.

It will be apparent, from the above description, that the window or ventilator may be very easily and quickly assembled and such assembly may be performed in the factory rather than at the building site so as to greatly speed up construction at the site. Also the setting and waterproofing of many small panes is eliminated in multipane windows.

It will also be noted that since the plastic material is lighter in Weight than glass and does not readily break like glass, there is practically no limit as to how large the movable ventilator frames may be made. Also, many plastic materials provide glare-free light, especially when tinted.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an eflicient window or ventilator frame construction for mounting transparent or translucent plastic panes of any desired size in sheeting or masonry walls, wherein the panes are mounted on the outside of the muntins and movable frame, thus will protect the frame from Weather effects; also I have provided a ventilator or frame construction which is free of breakage and which can be very easily and cheaply assembled, therefore considerably reducing construction costs.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

A permanent ventilator frame construction comprising a stationary metal frame, a movable metal frame pivotally mounted therein, each having cooperating sealing flanges,

said movable metal frame including crosswise extending muntins, a rigid pane of relatively light weight plastic material having a greater perimeter than that of the interior opening of said movable frame, said pane having a smaller perimeter than the outside perimeter of said movable frame and being mounted on the outside surface of said movable frame and muntins, and constituting the sole window permanently mounted on said movable frame, a molding extending along the marginal portion of the pane on the outside surface thereof, and a plurality of fastening elements having shank portions which penetrate said molding and the outer marginal portions of said pane and of said movable metal frame, intermediate surface portions of said pane being directly supported on and reinforced by the outside of said muntins, whereby 15 4 said muntins and a large outside surface area of said movable metal frame are completely covered by said pane and thus protected from the effects of weather and whereby said pane and frame will bend but not break when subjected to strong winds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Spears et a1 Dec. 4, 1951 2,640,232 Price June 2, 1953 2,646,117 Hodgius July 21, 1953 2,757,420 Roos Aug. 7, 1956 2,895,183 Dumbolton July 21, 1959 

